Divergent: Uncovered
by thebadbishop
Summary: Eleven Dauntless, two Abnegation and one Erudite have been kidnapped and forced to read the Divergent books. What will happen when they see their future unfold? (ON INDEFINITE HIATUS)
1. Chapter 1

**Mystery POV:**

The books have been in my family for generations. The author is one of my ancestors. When I was a child my mother would read them to me, I thought that they were amazing. I thought it was cool that they were set in our world, the factions, unlike the other books I had. When I turned twelve, my mother told me the truth about the books, that they weren't fictional, that they would tell the future. When I turned sixteen, the books were officially handed down to me, I was to keep them safe, and that's exactly what I've done. I was instructed to kidnap fourteen people and have them read these books when the events started to happen. That day is finally here. Eleven Dauntless, two Abnegation, and one Erudite will be locked in a house away from society until they finish the trilogy, at which point they will be let go and find a way to stop the war.

I hope this works.

* * *

"Is everything ready?" Edward says to me. We stand in an abandoned building in the factionless sector, both in Dauntless clothes, if we're going to get to the eleven Dauntless, we have to look like them.

I told Edward about the books when I was thirteen, we had been friends our entire lives and I knew that if I was going to pull this off, I would need help. We've been planning this for years now, every last detail. This has to work. It will work.

"I've got the cameras running on a loop, so no one will know that we were ever in the compound.", I say, "We already have Caleb Prior and his parents. We have to be fast, we only have about five hours until the Sleeping Serum wears off and we have to get them all into the house before they wake up." Even though this is all planned out, I'm still nervous, one slip up could ruin everything.

Edward can clearly tell that I'm worried because he places a hand on my shoulder and says, "We've got this. Everything has gone to plan so far, the initiates went through Lauren's fear landscape today, and just like she was supposed to, Tris went to see her brother. Everything is playing out the way it is supposed to. This will work." I nod, more sure of myself now. He's right, we've got this. We are going to help save Chicago.

Everything goes perfectly with the Dauntless, we manage to get them all out of the compound without a hitch. Edward and I have gotten them into the van and I sit in the back, making sure that no one wakes up before they should, and he drives us to the house.

I look at Will, lying there, unconscious. I know he can't hear me but I start to talk anyway. "I'm sorry that I had to do it this way. I hope you'll understand. I'm doing this to protect you, I can't let my little brother die."

The door of the van swings open and Edward stands there, "We're here, Cara."

* * *

**Tris' POV**

I wake up to an arm wrapped around me and I look up to see Tobias sleeping. He looks so peaceful, I smile at the sight. I roll over so that I am facing him, but my movements seem to wake him.

He smiles at me. "Morning.", his voice is thick with sleep.

"Morning.", I say, leaning my head on his chest again.

Someone clears their throat and our heads both snap to the other side of the room where twelve other people are stood. I sit up quickly and look around the room, I realize that we're not in Tobias' apartment and I have no idea how we ended up here.

"What the hell is going on?", I ask no one in particular, "Where are we?"

"I don't care where we are anymore.", I turn towards the voice. Christina. "I want to know what is going on here.", she motions to me and Tobias. Oh, no. I have no idea how to explain this right now.

"I don't think that's really our main priority right now, Christina.", Eric says from behind her. Thank God, I don't have to try to explain.

"There's a letter.", Tobias says from behind me. We all turn to him, he holds a small envelope in his hands.

"Hurry up and read it then." Eric sounds agitated.

"Dear Four, Tris, Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Marlene, Lynn, Eric, Tori, Christina, Will, Caleb, Andrew, and Natalie,

I know that you are probably all very confused right now, but I promise everything is about to become clear.

There are three books, they are called the Divergent Trilogy, which have been in my family for generations. These are not ordinary books, they are a premonition of what is to come.

I was instructed to bring you all here when the events of the books started to come true. That time is now.

You must read these books together and find a way to stop what is going to happen. No one should skip ahead, this is very important. It will be no use if you read on without everyone else.

You're probably wondering what makes you fourteen so special. If you don't stop this, nine of you will die and one will become paralyzed.

My identity nor your location is important. What is important is that you finish these books, you will not be allowed to leave until you do this.

Have fun."

We're all stunned to silence. How is this possible? This has to be some crazy stunt.

Tori breaks the silence, "We should probably start reading, then."

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is so short! The rest of them will be much longer.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Tris' POV**

Everyone leaves our room and me and Tobias sit in silence. I don't understand. How could there possibly be books about us? Books about our future. I look over at Tobias and see him staring at an envelope in his hands. This isn't the same envelope that he took the letter from a minute ago, this one has our names on it.

"Another letter?", I ask and Tobias' eyes meet mine. I look into them for moment and I feel safe, as if all of my problems have gone away, I feel at home.

"It has our names on it, so I wasn't sure if I should open it in front of everyone else.", he says. I nod, letting him know that it was the right thing to do. He turns the envelope over and opens it. He pulls a letter out and hands it to me to read.

"Dear Four and Tris,

I have left the books with you. They are in a locked box in your closet. The key is in this envelope. When you are not reading the books please keep them locked away. I trust that you will keep them safe.

Also, don't hide your relationship, it will be revealed in the books anyway. You're stronger together."

Tobias wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him. "Are you ready?"

* * *

We walk down the stairs hand in hand. Tobias holds the first book in his free hand. As we walk into a large room full of two and three seater couches, armchairs and beanbags, I see that all of the other Dauntless are already sat down.

Christina turns to look at us, "Now that you two are finally here, do you want to answer my question from earlier."

"Beatrice?", a voice behind me says. I turn around and see my parents stood there, my mother smiling and my father with an unreadable expression.

"Mom?", a smile creeps onto my face.

"Hello, honey.", my mother pulls me into a hug and my father's attention shifts from me to Tobias.

"And who is this?", my father says, his voice lacks emotion but he is glaring daggers and Tobias.

"Dad, this is Four.", I say. He doesn't look at me, instead, he stares at Tobias.

"And you're dating?", I raise an eyebrow, how does he know that? He obviously notices my confusion because he continues, "I assume you don't share a bed with all of your friends." Of course, everyone was in our room this morning.

"Yes. We are dating.", I say. He looks as though he is about to say something else, but he is interrupted by Eric.

"You're dating an initiate?", Eric raises an eyebrow, making the holes from his piercings grow.

"That's none of your concern, Eric.", Tobias steps toward him, and Eric is about to continue when Tori steps in.

"Enough. All of you.", she says, "We have more important things to worry about right now. We have to read these books if we ever want to get out of here, so quit arguing and sit down." She takes the book from Tobias and goes back to her seat. Tobias and I sit on a two-seater couch and my parents sit next to Caleb in two armchairs across the room.

"Tris.", Tori says.

"Yeah?"

"Did you know that this book is from your point of view?", she says. I shake my head. What is so special about me? "Interesting", she says before she starts to read.

**CHAPTER ONE**

**There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. **

"Wait, what?", Christina exclaims. We all look at her. "You only have one mirror and you keep it hidden away? That's insane!"

"That's the way it is in Abnegation, Chris.", I say.

**Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair.**

**I sit on the stool and my mother stands behind me with the scissors, trimming. The strands fall on the floor in a dull, blond ring.**

**When she finishes, she pulls my hair away from my face and twists it into a knot. I note how calm she looks and how focused she is. She is well-practiced in the art of losing herself. I can't say the same of myself.**

My mother gives me a sympathetic smile.

**I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn't paying attention—not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity. A lot can happen to a person's appearance in three months. In my reflection, I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose—I still look like a little girl, though sometime in the last few months I turned sixteen. The other factions celebrate birthdays, but we don't. It would be self-indulgent.**

"You don't celebrate birthdays?", Uriah asks. I shake my head. "So no cake?"

"No cake.", I chuckle. He looks at Zeke with a look of shock on his face.

**"****There," she says when she pins the knot in place.d Her eyes catch mine in the mirror. It is too late to look away, but instead of scolding me, she smiles at our reflection. I frown a little. Why doesn't she reprimand me for staring at myself?**

"I'd like to know that as well.", my father looks at my mother.

"She was already nervous, I wasn't going to make it worse.", her voice is soft. My father nods.

**"****So today is the day," she says.**

**"****Yes," I reply.**

**"****Are you nervous?"**

**I stare into my own eyes for a moment. Today is the day of the aptitude test that will show me which of the five factions I belong in. And tomorrow, at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a faction; I will decide the rest of my life; I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them.**

"Bit dramatic, Tris.", Will laughs at me.

"Shut up, Will.", I joke.

"Tris?", my father raises an eyebrow at me.

"I changed it.", I shrug.

**"****No," I say. "The tests don't have to change our choices."**

**"****Right." She smiles. "Let's go eat breakfast."**

**"****Thank you. For cutting my hair."**

**She kisses my cheek and slides the panel over the mirror. I think my mother could be beautiful, in a different world. Her body is thin beneath the gray robe. She has high cheekbones and long eyelashes, and when she lets her hair down at night, it hangs in waves over her shoulders. But she must hide that beauty in Abnegation.**

**We walk together to the kitchen. On these mornings when my brother makes breakfast, and my father's hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and my mother hums as she clears the table—it is on these mornings that I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave them.**

"There's a page break.", Tori says.

**The bus stinks of exhaust. Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side to side, even though I'm gripping the seat to keep myself still.**

**My older brother, Caleb, stands in the aisle, holding a railing above his head to keep himself steady. We don't look alike. He has my father's dark hair and hooked nose and my mother's green eyes and dimpled cheeks. When he was younger, that collection of features looked strange, but now it suits him. If he wasn't Abnegation, I'm sure the girls at school would stare at him.**

The other girls start to giggle.

"What?", I ask.

"We did anyway.", Marlene laughs. Caleb blushes.

**He also inherited my mother's talent for selflessness. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus without a second thought.**

**The Candor man wears a black suit with a white tie—Candor standard uniform. Their faction values honesty and sees the truth as black and white, so that is what they wear.**

**The gaps between the buildings narrow and the roads are smoother as we near the heart of the city. The building that was once called the Sears Tower—we call it the Hub—emerges from the fog, a black pillar in the skyline. The bus passes under the elevated tracks. I have never been on a train, though they never stop running and there are tracks everywhere. Only the Dauntless ride them.**

The Dauntless cheer.

**Five years ago, volunteer construction workers from Abnegation repaved some of the roads. They started in the middle of the city and worked their way outward until they ran out of materials. The roads where I live are still cracked and patchy, and it's not safe to drive on them. We don't have a car anyway.**

**Caleb's expression is placid as the bus sways and jolts on the road. The gray robe falls from his arm as he clutches a pole for balance. I can tell by the constant shift of his eyes that he is watching the people around us—striving to see only them and to forget himself. Candor values honesty, but our faction, Abnegation, values selflessness.**

"God, this bit is so boring.", Zeke whines, "Do you have to describe so much nonsense, Tris?"

"Zeke!" Shauna smacks him on the arm.

**The bus stops in front of the school and I get up, scooting past the Candor man. I grab Caleb's arm as I stumble over the man's shoes. My slacks are too long, and I've never been that graceful.**

"You still aren't.", Eric sneers. Tobias glares at him and Tori starts reading again before they can go any further.

**The Upper Levels building is the oldest of the three schools in the city: Lower Levels, Mid-Levels, and Upper Levels. Like all the other buildings around it, it is made of glass and steel. **

**In front of it is a large metal sculpture that the Dauntless climb after school, daring each other to go higher and higher. Last year I watched one of them fall and break her leg. I was the one who ran to get the nurse.**

"Thanks, Tris.", Lynn mumbles.

"You're welcome, Lynn.", I chuckle.

**"****Aptitude tests today," I say. Caleb is not quite a year older than I am, so we are in the same year at school.**

**He nods as we pass through the front doors. My muscles tighten the second we walk in. The atmosphere feels hungry, like every sixteen-year-old is trying to devour as much as he can get of this last day. It is likely that we will not walk these halls again after the Choosing Ceremony—once we choose, our new factions will be responsible for finishing our education.**

**Our classes are cut in half today, so we will attend all of them before the aptitude tests, which take place after lunch. My heart rate is already elevated.**

**"****You aren't at all worried about what they'll tell you?" I ask Caleb.**

**We pause at the split in the hallway where he will go one way, toward Advanced Math, and I will go the other, toward Faction History.**

**He raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you?"**

**I could tell him I've been worried for weeks about what the aptitude test will tell me—Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity, or Dauntless?**

**Instead I smile and say, "Not really."**

**He smiles back. "Well…have a good day."**

**I walk toward Faction History, chewing on my lower lip. He never answered my question.**

"I thought you didn't notice.", Caleb says.

"Well, I did."

**The hallways are cramped, though the light coming through the windows creates the illusion of space; they are one of the only places where the factions mix, at our age. Today the crowd has a new kind of energy, a last day mania.**

**A girl with long curly hair shouts "Hey!" next to my ear, waving at a distant friend. A jacket sleeve smacks me on the cheek. Then an Erudite boy in a blue sweater shoves me. I lose my balance and fall hard on the ground.**

**"****Out of my way, Stiff," he snaps, and continues down the hallway. **

**My cheeks warm. I get up and dust myself off. A few people stopped when I fell, but none of them offered to help me. Their eyes follow me to the edge of the hallway. This sort of thing has been happening to others in my faction for months now—the Erudite have been releasing antagonistic reports about Abnegation, and it has begun to affect the way we relate at school. The gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and the unassuming demeanor of my faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too. But now they make me a target.**

"I didn't realize it was that bad.", my father says with a worried look on his face.

**I pause by a window in the E Wing and wait for the Dauntless to arrive. I do this every morning. At exactly 7:25, the Dauntless prove their bravery by jumping from a moving train.**

"Stalker.", Zeke teases.

**My father calls the Dauntless "hellions." They are pierced, tattooed, and black-clothed. Their primary purpose is to guard the fence that surrounds our city. From what, I don't know.**

**They should perplex me. I should wonder what courage—which is the virtue they most value—has to do with a metal ring through your nostril. Instead my eyes cling to them wherever they go.**

**The train whistle blares, the sound resonating in my chest. The light fixed to the front of the train clicks on and off as the train hurtles past the school, squealing on iron rails. And as the last few cars pass, a mass exodus of young men and women in dark clothing hurl themselves from the moving cars, some dropping and rolling, others stumbling a few steps before regaining their balance. One of the boys wraps his arm around a girl's shoulders, laughing.**

**Watching them is a foolish practice. I turn away from the window and press through the crowd to the Faction History classroom.**

"That's the end of the chapter.", Tori says as she closes the book.

"I hope this starts getting interesting soon or I might die of boredom." Zeke whines.

"Quit whining, Zeke.", Uriah teases.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tobias' POV**

"I want to read next.", Christina says as she takes the book from Tori.

"Wait for me!", Uriah says, hurrying back to his seat, I don't remember seeing him leave the room.

"When did you leave?", Marlene asks the question that I was thinking.

"I went to go get food.", Uriah shrugs like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How did no one see you leave the room?", Lynn asks.

"Magic.", Uriah says, chuckling.

Zeke bursts into laughter, making us all turn to look at him, each with a confused expression on our faces. "Do you remember when we were kids," he says through laughter, "when you tried to pull the tablecloth from the table with everything still on it."

"Shut up, Zeke.", Uriah gives him a pointed look.

"The food went everywhere.", Zeke continues, ignoring his brother, "Mom was covered head-to-toe in pasta. She was so mad."

"I was seven!", Uriah exclaims, "I thought it would work."

"Well, you ended up spending the next three days trying to scrub sauce out of the carpet.", Zeke starts to laugh even harder.

"Christina, please start reading.", Uriah begs, glaring at his brother.

**CHAPTER TWO**

**The tests begin after lunch. We sit at the long tables in the cafeteria, and the test administrators call ten names at a time, one for each testing room. I sit next to Caleb and across from our neighbor Susan.**

**Susan's father travels throughout the city for his job, so he has a car and drives her to and from school every day. He offered to drive us, too, but as Caleb says, we prefer to leave later and would not want to inconvenience him.**

"Of course not.", Lynn grumbles.

**Of course not.**

"Aw! Twins!", Uriah muses. Lynn smacks him on the arm, "Ow."

"Shut up, Uriah.", she says, "You're just as bad as Zeke."

"Hey!", Zeke exclaims.

**The test administrators are mostly Abnegation volunteers, although there is an Erudite in one of the testing rooms and a Dauntless in another to test those of us from Abnegation, because the rules state that we can't be tested by someone from our own faction. **

"Why can't you be tested by someone from your own faction?", Will asks. We all look at Eric.

"Why is everyone looking at me?", Eric raises an eyebrow.

"You're a leader.", Christina says.

"You're a leader?", Caleb looks shocked.

"Yes.", Eric replies.

"But you're so young." Caleb needs to be careful, he doesn't know what Eric is like.

"And?", Eric gives him a pointed look.

"Nothing.", Caleb mumbles.

"Is anyone going to answer my question?", Will asks.

"That's just the rules, Will."

**The rules also say that we can't prepare for the test in any way, so I don't know what to expect.**

**My gaze drifts from Susan to the Dauntless tables across the room. They are laughing and shouting and playing cards. **

All of the Dauntless-born cheer.

**At another set of tables, the Erudite chatter over books and newspapers, in constant pursuit of knowledge.**

**A group of Amity girls in yellow and red sit in a circle on the cafeteria floor, playing some kind of hand-slapping game involving a rhyming song. Every few minutes I hear a chorus of laughter from them as someone is eliminated and has to sit in the center of the circle. At the table next to them, Candor boys make wide gestures with their hands. They appear to be arguing about something, but it must not be serious, because some of them are still smiling.**

**At the Abnegation table, we sit quietly and wait. Faction customs dictate even idle behavior and supersede individual preference. I doubt all the Erudite want to study all the time, or that every Candor enjoys a lively debate,**

"I definitely didn't.", Christina says.

** but they can't defy the norms of their factions any more than I can.**

**Caleb's name is called in the next group. He moves confidently toward the exit. I don't need to wish him luck or assure him that he shouldn't be nervous. He knows where he belongs, and as far as I know, he always has. **

Tris gives Caleb a sad look.

**My earliest memory of him is from when we were four years old. He scolded me for not giving my jump rope to a little girl on the playground who didn't have anything to play with. **

"What a great first memory.", Shauna rolls her eyes.

**He doesn't lecture me often anymore, but I have his look of disapproval memorized.**

**I have tried to explain to him that my instincts are not the same as his—it didn't even enter my mind to give my seat to the Candor man on the bus—but he doesn't understand. "Just do what you're supposed to," he always says. It is that easy for him. It should be that easy for me.**

Tris' parents look sad as Christina reads, it must be hard for them to have to relive their daughter's betrayal like this.

**My stomach wrenches. I close my eyes and keep them closed until ten minutes later, when Caleb sits down again.**

**He is plaster-pale. He pushes his palms along his legs like I do when I wipe off sweat, and when he brings them back, his fingers shake.**

"Was it really that obvious?", Caleb asks Tris. She nods.

** I open my mouth to ask him something, but the words don't come. I am not allowed to ask him about his results, and he is not allowed to tell me.**

"People actually follow that rule?", Uriah looks shocked.

**An Abnegation volunteer speaks the next round of names. Two from Dauntless, two from Erudite, two from Amity, two from Candor, and then: "From Abnegation: Susan Black and Beatrice Prior."**

**I get up because I'm supposed to, but if it were up to me, I would stay in my seat for the rest of time. I feel like there is a bubble in my chest that expands more by the second, threatening to break me apart from the inside. I follow Susan to the exit. The people I pass probably can't tell us apart. We wear the same clothes and we wear our blond hair the same way. The only difference is that Susan might not feel like she's going to throw up, and from what I can tell, her hands aren't shaking so hard she has to clutch the hem of her shirt to steady them.**

"Bit nervous, Tris?", Zeke laughs.

"Shut up.", Tris grumbles.

**Waiting for us outside the cafeteria is a row of ten rooms. They are used only for the aptitude tests, so I have never been in one before. Unlike the other rooms in the school, they are separated, not by glass, but by mirrors. I watch myself, pale and terrified, walking toward one of the doors. Susan grins nervously at me as she walks into room 5, and I walk into room 6, where a Dauntless woman waits for me.**

**She is not as severe-looking as the young Dauntless I have seen. She has small, dark, angular eyes and wears a black blazer—like a man's suit—and jeans. It is only when she turns to close the door that I see a tattoo on the back of her neck, a black-and-white hawk with a red eye.**

"I bet it's Tori.", Zeke says. Tori smirks at Tris.

** If I didn't feel like my heart had migrated to my throat, I would ask her what it signifies. It must signify something.**

**Mirrors cover the inner walls of the room. I can see my reflection from all angles: the gray fabric obscuring the shape of my back, my long neck, my knobby-knuckled hands, red with a blood blush. The ceiling glows white with light. In the center of the room is a reclined chair, like a dentist's, with a machine next to it. It looks like a place where terrible things happen.**

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine.", Eric sneers. Tris glares at him.

**"Don't worry," the woman says, "it doesn't hurt."**

**Her hair is black and straight, but in the light I see that it is streaked with gray. "Have a seat and get comfortable," she says. "My name is Tori."**

"Told you!", Zeke shouts.

"Ouch. Zeke you don't need to yell in my ear.", Shauna says.

**Clumsily I sit in the chair and recline, putting my head on the headrest. The lights hurt my eyes. Tori busies herself with the machine on my right. I try to focus on her and not on the wires in her hands.**

**"Why the hawk?" I blurt out as she attaches an electrode to my forehead.**

**"Never met a curious Abnegation before," she says, raising her eyebrows at me.**

**I shiver, and goose bumps appear on my arms. My curiosity is a mistake, a betrayal of Abnegation values.**

"Tut, tut, Tris.", Uriah shakes his head.

**Humming a little, she presses another electrode to my forehead and explains, "In some parts of the ancient world, the hawk symbolized the sun. Back when I got this, I figured if I always had the sun on me, I wouldn't be afraid of the dark."**

**I try to stop myself from asking another question, but I can't help it. "You're afraid of the dark?"**

**"I was afraid of the dark," she corrects me. She presses the next electrode to her own forehead, and attaches a wire to it. She shrugs. "Now it reminds me of the fear I've overcome."**

**She stands behind me. I squeeze the armrests so tightly the redness pulls away from my knuckles. She tugs wires toward her, attaching them to me, to her, to the machine behind her. Then she passes me a vial of clear liquid.**

**"Drink this," she says.**

**"What is it?" My throat feels swollen. I swallow hard. "What's going to happen?"**

**"Can't tell you that. Just trust me."**

"Good idea.", Lynn says, "Trust the strange woman you just met."

"Strange?", Tori raises an eyebrow.

**I press air from my lungs and tip the contents of the vial into my mouth. My eyes close.**

**When they open, an instant has passed, but I am somewhere else. I stand in the school cafeteria again, but all the long tables are empty, and I see through the glass walls that it's snowing. On the table in front of me are two baskets. In one is a hunk of cheese, and in the other, a knife the length of my forearm.**

**Behind me, a woman's voice says, "Choose."**

**"Why?" I ask.**

**"Choose," she repeats.**

**I look over my shoulder, but no one is there. I turn back to the baskets. "What will I do with them?"**

**"Choose!" she yells.**

**When she screams at me, my fear disappears and stubbornness replaces it. I scowl and cross my arms.**

"So stubborn.", I whisper to Tris. She jokingly glares at me.

**"Have it your way," she says.**

**The baskets disappear. I hear a door squeak and turn to see who it is. I see not a "who" but a "what": A dog with a pointed nose stands a few yards away from me. It crouches low and creeps toward me, its lips peeling back from its white teeth. A growl gurgles from deep in its throat, and I see why the cheese would have come in handy. Or the knife. But it's too late now.**

**I think about running, but the dog will be faster than me. I can't wrestle it to the ground. My head pounds. I have to make a decision. If I can jump over one of the tables and use it as a shield—no, I am too short to jump over the tables, and not strong enough to tip one over.**

**The dog snarls, and I can almost feel the sound vibrating in my skull.**

**My biology textbook said that dogs can smell fear because of a chemical secreted by human glands in a state of duress, the same chemical a dog's prey secretes. Smelling fear leads them to attack. The dog inches toward me, its nails scraping the floor.**

**I can't run. I can't fight. Instead I breathe in the smell of the dog's foul breath and try not to think about what it just ate.**

There is a chorus of 'ew' and 'gross' around the room.

** There are no whites in its eyes, just a black gleam.**

**What else do I know about dogs? I shouldn't look it in the eye. That's a sign of aggression. I remember asking my father for a pet dog when I was young, and now, staring at the ground in front of the dog's paws, I can't remember why. It comes closer, still growling. If staring into its eyes is a sign of aggression, what's a sign of submission?**

**My breaths are loud but steady. I sink to my knees. The last thing I want to do is lie down on the ground in front of the dog—making its teeth level with my face—but it's the best option I have. I stretch my legs out behind me and lean on my elbows. The dog creeps closer, and closer, until I feel its warm breath on my face. My arms are shaking.**

**It barks in my ear, and I clench my teeth to keep from screaming.**

**Something rough and wet touches my cheek. The dog's growling stops, and when I lift my head to look at it again, it is panting. It licked my face. I frown and sit on my heels. The dog props its paws up on my knees and licks my chin. I cringe, wiping the drool from my skin, and laugh.**

**"You're not such a vicious beast, huh?"**

**I get up slowly so I don't startle it, but it seems like a different animal than the one that faced me a few seconds ago. I stretch out a hand, carefully, so I can draw it back if I need to. The dog nudges my hand with its head. I am suddenly glad I didn't pick up the knife.**

**I blink, and when my eyes open, a child stands across the room wearing a white dress. She stretches out both hands and squeals, "Puppy!"**

**As she runs toward the dog at my side, I open my mouth to warn her, but I am too late. The dog turns. Instead of growling, it barks and snarls and snaps, and its muscles bunch up like coiled wire. About to pounce. I don't think, I just jump; I hurl my body on top of the dog, wrapping my arms around its thick neck.**

**My head hits the ground. The dog is gone, and so is the little girl. Instead I am alone—in the testing room, now empty. I turn in a slow circle and can't see myself in any of the mirrors. I push the door open and walk into the hallway, but it isn't a hallway; it's a bus, and all the seats are taken.**

"This didn't happen in my test.", Christina says.

"Me too.", everyone else says. Tris shifts uncomfortably in her seat. We both know what is going to be revealed soon.

**I stand in the aisle and hold on to a pole. Sitting near me is a man with a newspaper. I can't see his face over the top of the paper, but I can see his hands. They are scarred, like he was burned, and they clench around the paper like he wants to crumple it.**

**"Do you know this guy?" he asks. He taps the picture on the front page of the newspaper. The headline reads: "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" I stare at the word "murderer." It has been a long time since I last read that word, but even its shape fills me with dread.**

**In the picture beneath the headline is a young man with a plain face and a beard. I feel like I do know him, though I don't remember how. And at the same time, I feel like it would be a bad idea to tell the man that.**

**"Well?" I hear anger in his voice. "Do you?"**

**A bad idea—no, a very bad idea. My heart pounds and I clutch the pole to keep my hands from shaking, from giving me away. If I tell him I know the man from the article, something awful will happen to me. But I can convince him that I don't. I can clear my throat and shrug my shoulders—but that would be a lie. I clear my throat.**

**"Do you?" he repeats.**

**I shrug my shoulders.**

**"Well?"**

**A shudder goes through me. My fear is irrational; this is just a test, it isn't real. "Nope," I say, my voice casual. "No idea who he is."**

**He stands, and finally I see his face. He wears dark sunglasses and his mouth is bent into a snarl. His cheek is rippled with scars, like his hands. He leans close to my face. His breath smells like cigarettes. **

"Do you have to be so detailed, Tris.", Marlene scrunches up her nose.

"I didn't write this, remember.", Tris says.

**Not real, I remind myself. Not real.**

**"You're lying," he says. "You're lying!"**

**"I am not."**

**"I can see it in your eyes."**

**I pull myself up straighter. "You can't."**

**"If you know him," he says in a low voice, "you could save me. You could save me!"**

**I narrow my eyes. "Well," I say. I set my jaw. "I don't."**

"I need a break.", Shauna says, stretching.

"Me too.", Zeke says. They both stand and head towards the stairs.

"Remember, I'm too young to be an uncle!", Uriah calls out.

"Shut up, Uri.", Zeke says. Uriah sticks his tongue out at his brother.

"Mature.", Lynn rolls her eyes.


End file.
